Blood
by Blind and Painted Avatards
Summary: Something is happening to Katara, and it's not good. Kataang. A little Sukka. Rated for possible violence and goryiness- mostly for safety. The title sucks... Written by the Kataralike Avatard. It gets better towards the end- the beginning stinks...
1. Chapter 1

Every morning, I wake up and find fresh blood on my hands, I'm not sure how it gets there, but it happens every morning. So every morning, I make sure to get up early and go down to the stream to wash all of the blood away before Sokka, Aang and everyone else gets up.

At first I thought I had just cut myself, rolled over a rock in my sleep and got blood on my hands, no big deal, just wash it away and it would be fine. But when I washed it away, there were no cuts, nothing to suggest I had gotten hurt. I dismissed the thought of the blood and went about my day. But the next morning, there was more blood. And it keeps happening, again and again.

I need to know why this happens to me, why every morning I have to get up in secret and wash the blood off my hands. I can't trust anyone with this, if anyone finds out… I need to know why I have the blood of some innocent person on my hands. I feel despicable and indecent and the secret itself is enough to tear me apart! Trying to act normal through all this is proving to be a challenge, but I think Toph knows more than she's telling everyone about me.

"Toph," I said, "Can I talk to you for a second. Alone." We walked into my room and sat down on the bed.

"Are you going to tell me about why you've been so jumpy lately?" She asked.

"Well, you see Toph," I started, "I… I don't really know how to say this… but I…" "Is this about Aang?" Toph asked, clearly irritated with me.

"No, this isn't about Aang, its about me." I said.

"Wait… Sugar Queen, are you… are you pregnant?"

"WHAT? No, no of course not!" I stuttered "It's just that… Well… EverymorningIwakeupandthere'sthisbloodonmyhandsandIdon'tknowwhereitcomesfromandI'mreallyscared." I blurted out.

"So that's the reason…" Toph calmly replied.

"Toph, I need you to help me. Tonight, can you watch me and find out how this happens?"

"Sure, Sugar Queen. I'll help you."

"Thanks… Oh and Toph?"

"What?"

"Please don't tell anyone about this. Especially Sokka and Aang."

"Whatever you say Sugar Queen, whatever you say."


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning when I woke up, Toph was standing next to my bed. She had a grim expression on her face, which defiantly made me start to panick. I looked down at my hands, and sure enough, they were covered in blood, just as they were every morning.

"Toph… What exactly did I do last night?' I asked tentatively, not sure I wanted to know the answer. Toph just stood there with that look of mingled disgust and pain on her face. "Toph, tell me what I did!"

"Sugar Queen… you… you… You went into the forest, and I felt the vibrations… there were these rabbits… and they weren't acting normal… And you… You were controlling them! But then, they tried to fight it and… and… you… You killed them. Just like that. It wasn't normal, the rabbits almost like… exploded it felt like… And the blood, I felt it…" Toph stopped and shuddered, and just as she did, I noticed that she had some blood on her feet.

"Toph…I…I killed them? I bloodbended them? But.. but.. that's impossible! I was asleep! I…I… it wasn't even a full moon!"

"I don't know how, but you did Katara, you did."

"This is impossible! I said I would never bloodbend again… I…I…" and as I trailed off I dissolved into tears. This couldn't be happening. I needed to know how this happened.

"Look… Katara…" Toph started, "I didn't feel anyone else anywhere near, but I did feel that you where completely asleep. Your heartbeat was slow and your breathing relaxed, so I know it wasn't really you doing those things…"

"It's ok Toph," I tried to explain through my tears, "You can stay away from me if you want, I understand if you think I'm too dangerous to be around…" I trailed off.

"No, that's not it Sugar Queen. I just wanna help you solve this thing…" "But Toph, what if its you I hurt next or Sokka or Aang…"

"I don't think that'll be a problem until we figure out what's making you do this…" "Thanks," I sniffled, "Oh and Toph, if ANYONE finds out about this…"

"Ya, ya, You'll do to me what you did to the rabbits."

"Sure, something like that." She smiled and walked out of the room, off to clean her feet I supposed.

_Uh Oh,_ I thought, _I've been up too long! Now Aang and Sokka will be up! Ok, if I just sneak off to the river and…_

"Hey Katara!" Sokka called as he walked into my room. I quickly shoved my bloodied hands into my sleeping bag as Sokka continued to talk. "You're normally up a lot earlier than this, are you sick or something?"

"Uh, ya I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately." I coughed to prove my point.

"You look kinda pale too, maybe you should stay in bed for today."

"Ya, that sounds good." I agreed, throwing in another cough. "Sokka, do you think you could get me some water? I'm a little thirsty."

"Sure, you just have to promise me you'll stay in bed today."

"I promise…"

"Ok I'll be back with your water in a minute."

I let out a huge sigh when Sokka left the room._ That was close_, I thought. I removed my hands from the sleeping bag, I turned them over, cringing in distaste at the thought of the poor rabbits whose blood was now under my fingernails. What else had I been controlling? What else had I destroyed? How could I even bloodbend without the full moon? Was I more powerful than Hama? These questions swirled about in my brain as I stared down at my bloody hands.

"Here's your water!" Sokka barged in again as I stuffed my hands back in my sleeping bag. Sokka placed the waterskin next to my sleeping bag and gave me a kiss on the forehead. "Feel better soon Katara!" He called as he walked out of the room. I slowly took my hands from the folds of the sleeping bag and began to clean my hands with the water from the waterskin. Soon after I had washed the wretched blood off of my hands, I found myself with a dilemma. The bloody water. It was obvious that something had happened as the water was tinted a light mahongany color.

I figured it wud just be best to bend it out of the window, which I did. What I didn't figure, is that there would be someone beneath the window, on whose head I would bend the water onto. Oops.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hey watch it!" I heard the voice call from under the window. I mentally crossed my fingers. _Please haven't have seen that the water was bloody. Please, please!_ Zuko's head popped up from outside the window, someone I wasn't expecting. "What are you doing under my window?" I asked coldly.

"Nothing! I was just looking for my broad swords! You haven't seen them anywhere have you?"

"No," was my curt reply.

"I hope your feeling better," Zuko said trying to make a stab at conversation, "I mean that water you tossed out the window onto my head was kinda, well, bloody it looked like." I froze.

"What did you say?" I whispered lethally.

"Nothing just that the water you tossed on me looked a little bloody." In a matter of seconds I was out of my sleeping bag, done with feigning sick and had Zuko pressed up against a wall. "You tell anyone about the bloody water, and I won't have to wait until you make a slip up to kill you." I hissed.

"I won't tell a soul I swear!" Zuko gasped.

"Good." I released my grip on him and walked back to my sleeping bag. "And if anyone asks, I'm still sick," I told him.

"Ya, sure," he mumbled, "I don't know why you're so worried about bloody water though, everyone gets cut sometimes, its not like blood is something to be ashamed about," he continued mumbling as he made his way out. _Good, at least he hasn't found out the reason for the blood._ I thought, _I'm safe for now._


	4. Chapter 4

When I got up in the morning, my hands where once more bathed in deep crimson liquid that I found them in every morning. _How many rabbits or other innocent animals died this time?_ I thought. I rolled out of my sleeping bag and hurried down to the river as the sun started to rise.

I was just about to dip my hands in the river to rid them of the evidence of the burden I bore, when none other should appear, than Aang. "Hey Katara!" He said cheerily when he saw me. I had no time to inconspicuously dunk my hands in the water, and no pockets to shove them in, so I quickly clasped them behind my back. "Hey Aang, what are you doing up so early?" I asked as friendly as I could.

"Oh, you know, sometimes I like to get up early to meditate and waterbend a little."

"Oh," was all I could manage as a reply.

My brain was working furiously to find a way to get rid of Aang, without being rude, and without showing him my hands _and_ without looking like I was hiding something. This was proving to be a challenge, and on top of everything, my nose begun to itch, and I felt a sneeze coming on. "So Aang, how's firebending going?" I asked in an effort to distract him and myself from my sneeze.

"Well, Zuko's saying that-" he began, but at that point I couldn't hold in my sneeze any longer, and out of habit as I knew I would, I lifted my hands to my nose when I sneezed. _SO CLOSE!_

And of course, my plan of distracting Aang by getting him to talk about firebeding was thwarted because that boy doesn't miss a beat. "KATARA! Oh my god! What happened to your hands?" He yelled.

"Nothing, nothing, why what would be wrong with my hands?" I stuttered, trying once again to hide them behind my back. He grabbed them and began to inspect them, as carefully as he could, while I tried to pull away.

"Katara, that's a lot of blood," he said quietly, "but I don't see any cuts anywhere on your hands." _Wow he really doesn't miss anything._ I thought, _Why can't he just be ignorant just this once?_

"Listen Aang, this… this blood," I stuttered my stomach fluttering, not sure where to begin, "I…. I…"

"Katara, you can trust me, tell me why you have all this blood on your hands, I don't want to see you hurt." He said.

Tears began to prick my eyes, "This happens every morning!" I exclaimed, no longer able to control myself.

"Do you know why?" He calmly prompted.

"Yes! Its because every night I go into the woods and bloodbend! Every night I end up killing harmless little bunnies and whatever other animal happens across my path!" At this point I was slumped over onto Aang's shoulder, the tears flowing more and more every second. Aang's expression was almost unreadable, but you could tell there was slight disgust on his face, but what worried me most, was the fear that was in his eyes. His eyes always did betray him.

"Katara, why would you do this? I thought you said you where never going to use this power!"

"I know! I know!" I sobbed, "But the thing is, Toph said I'm still asleep when its happening! I don't know what it is, but there's something inside me or controlling me or something to do this! I need to know! I can't keep doing this Aang! I can't!" "Katara, it's ok. It's ok." He began to stroke my hair as my sobs began to dissipate into mere choking and hiccupping.

I looked at him through my tears and asked, "So, you don't hate me?" "Katara, why would I hate you? I would never hate you! I love you." Aang exclaimed. I looked up into his eyes, that betrayed his every true emotion, and I saw the most caring and truthful stare I had ever seen. In answer, I said nothing, just lay my head back on his chest, and squeezed him as tight as I could. "I love you too," I whispered, and as I did, I realized I truly meant it. I truly and entirely meant it. And in return, Aang squeezed me just as tight. Nothing more needed to be said, just that hug was enough. It said all of the unspoken words that over all this time we never had the courage to say.

The warm embrace slowly turned into a kiss, and by the time we broke away we were both breathing heavily and were aware that the sun was well over the horizon. I looked down, and there was still blood on my hands, a reminder of the outside world. For just a few minutes, nothing had existed it was just me and Aang in a blissful peace. But now we realized as we looked down at my hands what we had to do. Aang cleared his throat as I bended the water from the stream onto my hands to rid them of the now dried blood.

"Listen, Aang, about the bloodbending at night…" I trailed off.

"Don't tell Sokka?" He guessed.

"Ya, I'm just not sure what he'll say, and…" I trailed off again. "Listen," I started, "Aang I really do love you, but maybe with this whole bloodbending issue, it would be best if… Well I mean, we don't know why I'm doing this so I could end up hurting you and…" I started to babble, but was cut off by Aang.

"Katara, I care too much about you, I love you, and we're in this together."

"Ok. But if there is any chance of you getting hurt, you have to promise me that you'll let me do whatever is necessary to protect you?"

"Katara-" He began to protest.

"Promise me Aang."

"I promise," He finally said in defeat.

I let out a huge sigh and said, "Well, I guess I better go cook breakfast."

"Ya, we should probably walk back up to the Temple," he said. I gave him a quick peck on the lips and he grasped my now blood-free hands and we walked back up to camp.


	5. Chapter 5

As we were eating our eggs Sokka told me, "You look a lot better than you did yesterday Katara, a little rest did you a lot of good." "Ya," I said slowly, rest… right…" At this comment, Toph smirked. She knew that truthfully I had spent the day in my room practicing my waterbending, only to scramble into my sleeping bag and pretend to cough whenever someone walked by. "You were up kinda early though, I mean for being sick yesterday," Sokka remarked.

"I guess that rest really did me a world of good and I'm back to normal." I answered lamely.

"What do you do when you get up so early anyway?" Sokka persisted.

"Well… I…uh"

"She was uh with me." Aang said, coming to the rescue.

"Ya, that's right, I get up early in the morning to be with Aang." I said.

"Why do you need to get up early to be with each other? I mean you see each other every day, and Aang's pretty much mastered waterbending…" Sokka took a few moments to process this with me and Aang shifting guiltily in our seats. "You mean you two…?" Sokka started, "But…" he began again.

"I think they've made it pretty clear they are now officially a couple, Snoozles," Toph cut in.

"I got that thank you very much," Sokka snapped, "The only thing I'm worried about is that they get up early so they can be alone… as a couple..." Sokka pondered this for a second and then said, "You know what, I really don't wanna know. Just so long as you two don't start openly displaying your emotions to the public—meaning me, I'm ok with you two getting up early to see each other. I completely trust you."

"Thanks, Sokka, but it's not like that," I explained, "Aang and I just get up early to…" I stumbled, fresh out of ideas for the moment.

"To talk!" Aang put in.

"Ya, you know, nice heart to heart before breakfast." I added.

"Sure, whatever," Sokka said, clearly uninterested, changing his focus back to his breakfast. At this point both Toph and I simultaneously decided we were going to go back to our rooms to "get a little rest" code for talking privately in my room.

"Ok, what's the deal Sugar Queen?" Toph asked as soon as she'd made sure the door was shut.

"I told Aang. He saw the blood on my hands this morning and… I had to tell him." I said.

"Figures," she scoffed, "I knew you were gonna do something like that." There was a long silence, the kind that makes your ears ring, that followed. "We have figure out why this is happening Katara, we can't go on pretending like nothing's happening," she said softly, breaking the silence, "You and Aang are together now, that's great, and he knows, but does he really know the how big of a risk he's taking being with you. I mean we don't know why you do this yet, and for all you know, you could be out there in the forest practicing on bunnies what you're going to do to Aang! This is nuts! He could be kissing an assassin for all we know!"

Toph's explosion ended as abrubtly as it had started, and she was panting heavily. I was looking down at my hands once more, examining the blood that still remained under my fingernails. Before I knew it, the lump that had been rising in my throat suddenly resulted into cascading tears. "Toph, it's not me who's doing these things! Toph I need you to believe me! I need someone to help me figure all this out! Please don't walk away! I need your help!"

Despite my efforts and the silently flowing tears, Toph just walked out the door. "I'm sorry Katara, you're just too dangerous for me to be around. I've taken some time to think about it, and I won't tell anyone, but don't expect me to stick around with you alone. I'm the one who had to stand there and watch you do what you did to the rabbits, I'm all for solving this mystery Katara, but after what you've been doing, I mean who knows, it could be me next." Another silence ensued. "I'm sorry. I really am." She said quietly, and then closed the door, leaving me to kneel in the middle of the room trying to staunch the steady stream of tears and choking sobs that were issuing from me, echoing in the silence.


	6. Chapter 6

That afternoon, everyone seemed to be acting normal. Nobody was purposefully avoiding me- except Toph- or looking at me like I might kill them. Toph hadn't told anyone and neither had Zuko… yet. The day was still young, I'd have to watch out for him. Toph wouldn't tell because she was the one who had actually witnessed me doing the horrible deeds and she was even hesitant to tell me about them. Aang of course wouldn't tell, because of what had happened earlier, and so that just left Sokka, The Duke, Teo and Haru who weren't in the loop about me- and I intended to keep it that way.

The only problem with Toph and me not speaking, was that Sokka seemed to notice. My brother happens to be completely oblivious to everything that's happening (me bloodbending at night, me going out with Aang ect.) but he just so happens to notice me and Toph not talking. He's unbelievable!

"Hey, Katara," Sokka said, "Why are you and Toph like avoiding each other, you were just started to hang out alone more, and now its like your not speaking or something."

"Oh, it's nothing, Toph and I just had a little fight, I'm sure she'll come around sometime soon." I answered half truthfully.

"Right," he said with his usual sarcasm, but after my answer, he let the subject drop. That was extremely un-Sokka-like. I took it as a good omen though, because I really didn't want to talk about Toph at that moment.

Just as I was about to go to my room, Sokka stopped me. "Wait. I think you and I need to talk," he said. I nodded and he led me to the stream. We sat down on a log on the banks and after a long silence, that wasn't necessarily uncomfortable, he started to speak. "Katara," then he took a deep breath. _Oh great, here it comes, he knows why Toph isn't talking to me and that I'm going out in the woods and bloodbending every night._ I braced myself, ready for the worst. "Katara, I need to talk to you about Aang," he said.

"Aang?" I said thoroughly perplexed, "Why do you want to talk to me about Aang?"

"Well, you and he are in a new relationship, and I know I said I trust you guys, but I don't want to see my baby sister get hurt."

"Sokka, I won't get hurt," I said feeling extremely relieved that this was a conversation about Aang instead of my bloodbending, "I mean, it's Aang we're talking about."

"I know, I know. I trust you both, it's just… Katara I… I guess, I don't really want to see you grow up," he said softly. I closed my eyes tightly and opened them again quickly.

"Sokka, it's not like I'm going to you know like run away with Aang and leave you here to rot," I answered, "I'm not going anywhere." I gently hugged him and decided to leave him alone for a while to contemplate. I walked back up to the temple and into the courtyard to sit by myself like I was letting Sokka do. Too much had happened recently, and I needed to sit and think a while.


	7. Chapter 7

When I woke up the next morning, I felt achy and sore. Like something had happened the night before that I should know about. I glanced down at my hands. Bloody. Again. But this time, when I licked my chapped lips, I tasted the salty metallic flavor of blood there too. I practically flew out of bed and down to the stream.

I soaked my hands in the river until there was no sign that blood had ever been anywhere near my hands, then bended a chunk of water into ice to act as a mirror. Now I saw why I tasted blood. My whole face was splattered with it, like one of the rabbits had exploded in my face.

It took all of my self control not to throw up right then. Instead, I stripped as quickly as I could and jumped into the water. The water was icy cold, and as soon as I jumped in, I was chilled to the bone, and my brain was working furiously. I dunked my head and scrubbed as hard as I could all over my face and even in my hair, making sure that there was no sign of dried (or fresh) blood anywhere on my person.

Next I quickly jumped out and grabbed my clothes, dunking them and rinsing away the spots of blood that had gotten onto the clean blue fabric. I finished and dressed, though my clothes and hair were soaking, and I was freezing out in the air. I bended as much water as I could out of my clothes, but they were still damp. What I needed was an Airbender to dry me off completely.

I sneaked back into the temple and headed down the hallway and into Aang's room. I quietly opened the door and walked up to his bedside. He was sleeping on his back, breathing gently. He was so cute when he slept.

Too bad I'd have to wake him up. I got on my knees and put my mouth right by his ear. "Aang," I whispered softly. He stirred a bit, but kept sleeping. "Aang," I whispered a little louder. He moaned and turned over in his sleep. Ok, I was done being nice, "Aang!" I practically shouted. He sat bolt upright, completely alert, looking around. He saw me with my hands on the side of his bed, hair down and slightly damp, and he gave me a strange look. I smirked at him, happy to have finally woken him up, and in the process, I had gotten a bit of entertainment.

"Katara, what's wrong? Why did you wake me?"

"I'm kind of wet and I needed to get dry. I bended as most of the water as I could out of my clothes, but I'm still kind of wet. I thought maybe an Airbender could help me out a little bit." I answered. He got out of bed and told me to stand to one side of the room, which I did, and he blew a gust of air at me, drying me of completely. "Thank you," I said.

"Its no problem," he returned, "Just one thing; Why were you wet?" At this simple question, my brain went into a furious battle, should I tell him the truth? No, he was already disgusted and scared enough as it is.

"I…uh went down to the stream and… uh… fell in."

"I know you're lying," Aang said simply, his face falling, "But if you don't want to tell me, I respect your privacy. I just thought we could trust each other."

"Aang…" He had a decent point, we were supposed to trust each other, and he already knew what I did each night. "Ok, ok. What really happened was that, I woke up this morning, and you know about the blood right? So there was more blood than normal this time, and so I had to completely wash off and wash my clothes and hair to get all the blood out instead of just my hands like normal." I said quickly. I saw Aang's face pale, but his expression didn't change.

"Its probably nothing," he said reassuringly. "Maybe one of the rabbits just died really violently. I'm sure its nothing." I let out a breath of air that I hadn't realized I had been holding. Just being told by Aang that everything was ok made me feel immensely better. I grasped his hand and we walked out into the courtyard and started to cook breakfast.

As we were cooking Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Teo and the Duke stumbled in sleepily. "What's cooking?" Sokka asked immediately.

"Uh, I think Aang's cutting up some fresh fruit, and…" I looked down, "rice. Again."

"Why is there always no meat?" Sokka grumbled.

"Hmm… I duno," I countered, "Maybe because the air nomads were vegetarians as is Aang!"

"Sorry, Sorry." He said holding up his hands to admit defeat, "You can't blame a guy for asking."

"Hey, has anyone seen Haru?" Teo asked as I served the rice, "Its not like him to get up late."

"He's in his room," Toph answered quietly. I knew something was wrong just by the tone of her voice.

"Well, someone go wake him up," Sokka complained, "I nominate Zuko!"

"Fine," Zuko mumbled as he got up and walked to Haru's room. 

We sat in silence eating our rice as we heard Zuko walking down the hall, mumbling to himself about being the one who has to wake people who don't even do anything up. We heard a door open and Zuko's call of "Haru, get outta bed!" then, we heard a Zuko scream. We all looked at one another; what could be so awful to make Zuko scream? He almost never displays fear, and now here he was yelling after walking into Haru's room.

Zuko sprinted into the courtyard panting, "Guys, come quick! Something's happened!" He took off down the hall once again and we all followed. Except Toph. She stayed where she was, her face stone. I glanced back at her, but ran down the hall to Haru's room with everyone else.

Zuko pushed open the door, and we were greeted with the sight of blood spattered across the floor, and Haru's mangled body slumped over in the corner, in a pool of blood. There was a sharp intake of breath throughout the room, as Aang carefully avoided the small pools of blood to get to Haru's body.

Aang turned Haru's body over and we could all clearly see that it looked like his chest had been ripped open. His face was barely reconizeable. It was soaked in blood, and his open eyes held an expression of utmost terror and surprise.

I heard short choking sobs from behind me and looked back to see the Duke, clearly trying not to cry. Anxious for an excuse to leave Haru's body, I escorted the Duke into his own room, and we sat down on the bed. He lay down and put his head in my lap, his crying finally stopped. "Katara, why did Haru have to die?" he asked looking up at me with his big brown eyes. 

"I duno sweetie," I replied, "But we'll figure out who did it and why soon. I promise."

"Thanks Katara," he sniffed.

"Why don't you take a nap and get your mind off of things, while we figure out what happened, ok?"

"Sure," he said quietly and I got up and pulled the blanket up to his chin. I carefully got up and closed the door, then ran as fast as I could down to the courtyard.


	8. Chapter 8

I ran into the courtyard to find that everyone was still tending to Haru's body, leaving just Toph and me alone. "Toph, you knew this had happened. And you know why." I said coldly. She just stared up at me, with her face of stone and sightless eyes.

"Yes Katara," she said softly, in a voice of ice, "I know everything that happened last night, and I know who did it. I knew Haru was dead from the time his heart stopped." I was silent and she continued on, "Haru died the same way the rabbits in the forest died, Katara. He was violently torn apart after he was controlled. You killed Haru, Katara." My eyes went wide and she gave a cold laugh, "Haru was just a warmup though. I know for a fact that you are going for a much higher target. I know you're aiming to the same to Aang as you did to Haru." My eyes brimmed with tears. If what Toph was saying was true, and I was almost sure it was, I would stop at nothing to kill the boy I loved.

My tears of sadness where quickly turned to tears of rage. I pushed past Toph and began to make my way down to my room. I had to pass Haru's room, and when Aang saw me, he stopped trying to move Haru's body and gave his feet to Sokka as he and Zuko began to carry him in the opposite direction. Aang began to run up to me, and I began to walk faster, angry tears still streaming from my eyes. I couldn't let Aang get hurt. Especially by me. 

All of a sudden, I began to get unbearably hot, and had to slow down, allowing Aang to catch up. "Listen, Katara," he started, but he didn't get a chance to finish, because at that moment, my knees buckled and suddenly, I wasn't on my feet anymore. "Katara!" I heard Aang yell, but I was swimming in and out of consciousness.

I heard Aang's voice, "Sokka!" and then I felt strong arms lifting me up, and carrying me into a room- I wasn't sure, but I didn't think it was mine. I was put down on what I thought was a bed. I felt a cool hand on my forehead, and Sokka's voice; "Aang she's burning up! Can't you heal her or something? You're a waterbender!" I thought I heard the splash of water coming out of a waterskin. I felt cool water on my temples. I heard Aang's voice; "It's not working. I can't heal like Katara can." And then everything went black.


	9. Chapter 9

My eyes snapped open and as I looked around, I realized that it was dark. My eyes slowly adjusted, and I tried to get oriented once again. I was in bed, but this wasn't my room. I looked over the side of my bed to see none other than the person who I wanted to be farthest away from. _Oh no,_ I thought, _How long was I asleep? Was Aang even still alive?_ I jumped down from the bed, kneeled down next to Aang and put my head on his bare chest.

There was still a heartbeat. Thank God. I hadn't hurt him yet, but who knew what I would do when I was asleep. I had to leave. I had to leave and never come back. I had to protect Aang, even if it meant leaving him.

I quietly removed my head from his chest, and sneaked out the door and over into my room. No one was in there, and so I gathered up all I would need for my journey away from the Western Air Temple. 

I decided before I left, to at least say goodbye to Aang, even if I didn't say it clearly. I sneaked back into Aang's room, and quietly closed the door, crouching down next to Aang. "Aang," I whispered softly, "Aang," I whispered a little louder, shaking him awake. The touch of my hands on his arm jolted him awake and he sat up straight, his head whipping to face me, and had I not reeled back in time, we would have smacked heads.

"Katara!" he cried joyfully, throwing his arms around my neck. I hugged him back as hard as I could, almost squeezing the air out of him, until I realized what I was doing and released my grip, not wanting Toph's prediction to come true. Though I had almost just strangled Aang, he looked overjoyed at the thought of me being by his bedside in the night, which worried me some. "Katara, I'm so happy you're awake!" He said grinning at me. I smiled back at him, a real smile despite the circumstances. Seeing Aang completely happy like this just made me feel the same. It was a shame this would be the last time that I got to feel this way. I vowed to make it the best night with him I would ever have, even though it would be short.

"Aang…" I said slowly, almost savoring his name, a name I would seldom ever use after tonight, "I…" I tried to tell him the truth, but the words caught in my throat. Maybe if I didn't tell him, it would be easier.

"Katara, when you collapsed yesterday, I… I was wondering what… what if you didn't wake up? What would I do without you?" He looked down at his hands as he said this, and the words that had gotten caught in my throat began to form a lump, and with nothing left to say, I did what I had been longing to do since I had woken Aang up. I kissed him. I kissed him as hard as I could, pulling him in close, knowing that this might be the last time I ever got to see him, ever got to feel his soft hands entwined with mine. His lean, smooth body pressed into mine, and I knew instantly that I had done the right thing by ending the use of words. Actions were all that was needed now.

We kept kissing each other, and even though I was enjoying it immensely, tears began to leak from eyes, because I couldn't get the thought from my mind that I would never get to do this again, never even get to see Aang's face. Aang broke the kiss, feeling the tears running down my face. "Katara what's wrong?" he asked tenderly. 

Once more I tried again to tell Aang the truth, but once more the words wouldn't come out. I couldn't ruin this happy moment for him. For us. "I love you, Aang," I said, "And I want you to remember that." I pulled him into another kiss, and felt him sink closer into me, and once more, he broke the kiss. "I love you too Katara," he whispered into my hair, "I love you too."

We sank onto his bed, and in Aang's arms I slowly began to drift off to sleep. _No! I've got to stay awake. I can't hurt him now. Not after that._ I was getting more and more tired as I lay there in the epitome of my fantasy, not able to enjoy it. I felt Aang's breathing grow deeper and more steady as he slowly fell asleep.

I slowly detangled myself from his arms, left the warmth of the bed, and silently crept down the hall to my room. I grabbed my bag, and ran into the courtyard, and then farther into the forest, taking one last look at the temple, knowing it would be the last time I would see it, and the boy soundly sleeping inside, still thinking he had me in his arms. I tore my eyes away from the temple, and began to run as fast as I could, trying to forget that any of this ever happened. I kept running until I was a great deal away from the temple, somewhere that they couldn't see me when flying above on Appa, and wouldn't find when searching for me, and I collapsed in tears.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Ok, the last couple of chapters have been kind of serious and such, so now I'm writing some awesomely awesome comedic stuff. Yayness! (Btw the Sokka and Aang talking at the end was requested to be in there by the other Avatard so don't blame me if you think it shouldn't be in there)

When Sokka got up in the morning and walked into the courtyard, he noticed something different. Katara wasn't there cooking breakfast as she normally was. _Oh right, Katara's sick. _He thought, _I think we put her in Aang's room last night, but he probably moved her into her own room. I should probably go bring her something to eat and get her up._

Sokka walked down the hall and quietly knocked on her door. There was no answer so he knocked a little louder, whispering "Katara!" Katara wasn't responding so Sokka slowly slid open the door, trying to be as quiet as possible as not to wake her. But as Sokka glanced at the bed, he realized it was empty, and hadn't been slept in. "But where would she-?" Sokka stopped dead. "Aang," he growled.

Sokka took off down the hall at top speed yelling as loud as he possibly could, "AANG! AANG!" He got to Aang's room and threw open the door, "AANG!" Sokka screamed. "Whashappenin?" Aang slurred sleepily as he leapt out of bed assuming a bending stance while still half asleep. 

Katara wasn't there. Maybe she had made up with Toph and they had decided to have a girly all night talking session. Sokka decided he would check to be sure. "Wait… Sokka, what's happening?" asked Aang now fully regaining consciousness, and looking around the room as if he was missing something.

"Nothing, nothing. I was just looking for Katara." Sokka said quietly, already starting down the hall to Toph's room while Aang trailed behind. They didn't bother to knock when they got to Toph's room, just barged right in. "You know you could knock!" She said angrily as Sokka and Aang marched in. 

"Toph, have you seen Katara?" Sokka asked quietly, getting worried now.

"Nope, I would have said to try Twinkle Toe's room, but I can see that's the first place you went."

"Toph, this is serious. We don't know where she is!" Sokka persisted.

"Sorry, haven't seen her. I'm going back to bed." She said bitterly as Sokka and Aang walked out.

They walked out by the stream, where Aang said to Sokka, "I don't think Toph is telling us everything. She could have felt the vibrations of Katara and told us where she is." Sokka nodded in agreement as Aang continued talking, "She can't be far away, I mean, she's still sick isn't she? And she was ok just last night..."

"Woah… back up there Aang," Sokka said, "Katara was still unconscious when we all went to bed. How do you know she was ok?" At this comment, Aang blushed bright red, the blood rushing to his cheeks. He shuffled his feet, and couldn't make eye contact with Sokka. "I… uh… She… um… we…" Aang stuttered- he was a horrible liar.

"Aang, what did you do with my sister last night?" Sokka screamed, his voice growing louder with each word.

"We…uh," Aang continued to stutter, still not making eye contact. 

"Aang just tell me what you did with her," Sokka said more quietly, his voice wavering between cold fury, and sadness, "It could give us a clue to where she is. Tell me everything she said, everything that happened. I want to find my sister."

Aang swallowed hard, "Ok, but you have to promise me a few things first. One; that you won't go prying in our business after this. Two; that you won't completely overreact and save any emotions or interruptions until I'm done. Three; I'm telling you this for the sole purpose of finding her and Four; you have to know, that I love Katara, and that I wouldn't do anything if it wasn't ok with her."

Sokka groaned, he was beginning to get the feeling that they hadn't just sat around and talked all night. "Fine," he said solemnly, "Lets just get this over with."

"Ok," said Aang as he took a deep breath, "So, what happened was you said 'Aang you can go sleep in Katara's room' and I refused right? And then you wouldn't let me sleep on the bed next to her, so I took the floor. So, I fell asleep, and the next thing I know, Katara is shaking me awake. I hugged her and she hugged me back really tight," Aang said, his face contorting in an attempt to remember, "Then I told her that I was really scared that she wouldn't wake up again and…" A look of delight passed over Aang's face and Sokka cleared his throat. "Sorry," Aang said continuing on, "So, she kissed me, and-"

"Did you kiss her back?"

"Well, yeah…uh… I…."

"You know what, forget I asked, continue."

"Uh, ok so we kissed, and then she started crying, and so I… uh asked her what was wrong, and… and she told me she loved me, and to make sure that I never forget that-"

"Do you love her too?"

"Yeah! Of course I do! But so… we kissed again and I told her I loved her and then we kind of slept-"

"Woah, woah, woah! In what way do you mean slept?" Sokka asked.

"Like she was on one side of the bed and I was on the other and I was holding her, and we fell asleep."

Sokka let out a breath that he had been holding, "Oh thank god." Aang smiled sheepishly at this.

"So that was a great story and everything, and now I know that I can completely trust you two and all, but it doesn't give us any idea of where Katara is," Sokka remarked.

"I think we should go ask Toph, she knows more than she's telling us," Aang suggested.

"Yeah, Toph," Sokka agreed, and they hiked back up to the courtyard.


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up, achy and sore, and I was hot all over again, like just before I had collapsed. I didn't feel like moving, but I knew I needed to find a stream to cool off in. I rolled over onto my side, and began to look around for a water source.

I located a stream, and got up slowly, making sure as to not strain my stiff joints. I walked down to the stream and quickly glanced around. There was nobody here to see me, so I stripped down eager to get in the stream. I looked down at my hands as I did and realized that there wasn't any blood on my hands this morning.

Toph had been right, I wasn't near Aang, so there was no need to practice bloodbending every night. I jumped into the stream, so that you couldn't tell that there where tears streaming from my eyes, my face now completely covered with water. I knew Aang would be safer with me as far away from him as possible, but it still hurt to be away from him.

I dunked my head in the stream and began to create little ripples in the water around me. I tried to clear my head, which seemed to be immensely easier when I was surrounded by water, manipulating it. It gave me something to concentrate on. I couldn't hold my breath forever though, and I had to resurface.

I finished washing up and got out and slipped my dress back on, feeling rejuvenated and ready to go. I walked back to where I had slept, grabbed my bag and kept walking. I wouldn't have to run today because I had put enough distance between me and the Western Air Temple the previous night. I began walking slowly, realizing that it was kind of nice to be by myself- if I didn't think of the circumstances. I walked along, enjoying the soft breeze, which brought my thoughts back to Aang. 

I let out a sigh. This would be harder than I thought. I turned my head sharply, towards a rustle in the bushes. I looked around, feeling extremely alarmed. I was in a spot in the forest where the trees and grass were dry, and I had forgotten to fill up my waterskin. I was completely defenseless. I heard another rustle, and even though I knew it would be useless, I took a bending stance. I snapped my head around, and a pair of hands came from behind me, covering my mouth so I couldn't scream and my eyes so I couldn't see. I was dragged behind a tree, struggling, but it was no use. I was caught.


	12. Chapter 12

Aang and Sokka walked down the hall towards Toph's room, again not bothering to knock. "Toph, we know you're not telling us everything," Aang said immediately.

"Yeah, you need to tell us what's going on." Sokka agreed. Toph pushed herself up onto one hand and turned towards Sokka and Aang. She sighed, and in a very non-Toph-like way she answered, "I'll tell you why you can't find Katara, but you're not gonna like it."

Sokka hesitated but then answered, "Ok, why can't we find her?"

"She ran away," Toph answered simply.

"What?? That's it?" Aang fumed, "She was just here last night! She was with me last night! Why did she runaway then? Was it because of me?"

"No. It wasn't you," said Toph, "And believe me, I defiantly know for a fact it wasn't you, I felt that her heart rate when she was with you, and she was in ecstasy." Aang relaxed at this comment.

"But if she didn't leave because of Aang, then why did she leave?" asked Sokka.

"You want to know how Haru died?" she asked.

"No! We want to know where Katara went!" Aang exclaimed.

"Katara killed him! Katara killed Haru!" she went on. Aang froze. Sokka was looking completely shocked, his eyes wide, his mouth slightly open.

"She- she wouldn't do that," Aang gasped.

"Well, she did. She bloodbended him." At these words, Aang's head dropped into his hands.

"She- she… she wouldn't," Aang mumbled to himself. Sokka just turned and began to walk out, clearly extremely distressed.

"Wait," Aang heard Toph whisper. Sokka turned and Aang took his head out of his hands. "That wasn't the complete truth," she muttered. Sokka slowly walked back into the room and sat down on the bed. "Talk," he said almost inaudibly.

"What I said about Katara killing Haru, she did kill him, and she did bloodbend him, but it wasn't her fault. She was doing it while she was asleep. I didn't want to tell you because, because I'm scared. I'm scared what happened to Haru will happen to me- to one of us. I don't wanna die yet." And with that she burst into tears.

"Toph, listen, I know you're worried, but you shouldn't have kept this information from us. My sister obviously needs our help," Sokka said consolingly.

"I'm sorry," Toph sobbed. Sokka and Aang put their arms around her shoulders, and they joined together in a group hug.

"Toph," Aang said, "Thank you for telling us. I think we should go find Katara to help her solve this problem. I bet we can figure out why this happens to her at night, and bring her back here where she belongs."


	13. Chapter 13

I was thrust against a tree, the rough bark digging into my back. I felt the hand that was covering my eyes slowly peel away, as though the owner wasn't sure whether to let me see what was going on. The hand over my eyes and mouth ended up coming off at the same time, and I looked up to see none- other than Suki.

"Suki? What are you doing here? Why did you ambush me?" I asked

"I'm sorry, it's just you never know who comes through these woods, and I didn't want you to attack me or yell for help because it would attract unwanted attention," Suki answered.

"But how did you get here? I thought you were in prison."

"I was, but I was able to escape. Prison was…" she shuddered, "but I'm out now, and that's all that matters. Why are you out here?"

"Suki, I can trust you right?" I asked and she nodded, "The reason I'm out here is that if I had stayed with my brother and Aang and everybody, I would end up killing Aang with my bloodbending."

"I thought you guys were nuts for each other though," Suki said thoroughly perplexed.

"We are. The thing is, I do it when I'm asleep, I have no control over my actions and end up hurting innocent people."

"Wait…" said Suki processing the information, "Did you say bloodbending? And killing Aang?" She gasped at her realization. "Katara, I think we need to talk."

"Ok, what is it? What did you just figure out?"

"I just remembered something I overheard in prison. It was about using the people who were closest to Aang to destroy him. Ozai had found this woman who said she had seen you traveling, and taught you how to control people. I'm not sure how, but Ozai was enabling her to control you when you were at your most vulnerable- when you were asleep," Suki was pacing now as she spewed all of this information, "She also said that she would need to practice for a while controlling someone through you, and that she would need to start small and work her way up, but that she would make sure Aang was dead in the end." Suki took a breath as I processed this.

"This all makes perfect sense!" I said, delighted at the fact that I had figured out why I was doing these horrible things, my face fell though as I realized that I was basically a perfect way to Aang, the person who was closest to him. Had I not been sick and then stayed awake that night after Haru's death, Aang would probably be dead by now. "Suki, how do you think we should stop this?"

"I'm not sure," she honestly replied, "But I would say that you need to find a way to end the woman who is controlling you at night by staying as far away from her as possible."

"Great," I said sarcastically, "Hey Suki, how would you feel about a trip to the Western Air Temple? And by trip I mean an extremely fast run."

"Let's go," She said, and took off with me at her heels.


	14. Chapter 14

Aang sat on Appa's fluffy head, he and Sokka feverishly scanning the ground for a figure in blue or some water doing something unnatural. They needed to find Katara. They had to. All they had seen so far was the green of the forest, not even sign of an encampment. No smoke floating up from the trees, nothing.

Sokka looked down once more before saying, "Aang it's no use, we've been searching for hours. She clearly doesn't want to be found, and there's no way she could have gone further than this without Appa. I think we should just go back up to the temple and forget this ever happened, keep training. I know it'll be hard, but if Katara doesn't want to be found, there's no way we can find her." Sokka's face was expressionless, but Aang could tell that inside he was fighting not to cry.

"Sokka don't say that! We have to find her! We can't just leave her!" Aang exclaimed, the tears now flowing from his eyes, "I love her Sokka!"

"I know. I do too," Sokka said, his face still stone, "but I think this once, we have to let her go." Aang tried to choke out another protest, but his throat closed up and he just nodded. He couldn't bear to lose Katara, but if she thought it was safest to be away from everyone, and didn't want to be found, Aang would respect her wishes, no matter how painful that might be.

Aang sharply jerked the reins the opposite direction, turning Appa around to return to the temple- without Katara. Tears were flowing freely from Aang's eyes, realizing that he would probably never see Katara again. He kept scanning the trees though, hoping maybe just maybe Katara would appear in his line of sight. But she never did. He turned his eyes back to their destination, and as he did he thought he saw a flash of blue. Aang quickly turned his head back again, only to find that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. He looked back at Sokka sitting in the saddle and found that tears were silently creeping down the cheeks of the older boy. Katara was truly gone.


	15. Chapter 15

Suki and I reached the temple in what had to be a record time. We ran into the courtyard and found Aang and Sokka just getting off of Appa. I saw Sokka do a double take. "Katara!" he yelled and ran and hugged me. I realized he was crying when he said, "Katara, I thought you were never gonna come back!" I remembered thinking that myself, and then I realized the pain I had put him through. He must have been frightened when I'd left, he'd promised dad he would take care of me, and to wake up and find me missing.

"I'm so sorry, Sokka," I said, "I hope you can forgive me." Tears were now silently leaking from my eyes as well. We broke apart and Sokka looked at who I brought with me. "Suki?" he said as though she wasn't really there. "Sokka," I heard her whisper, and then I saw them embrace, and it immediately turned into a kiss. I now turned to Aang.

"Aang-"

"Why'd you do it Katara?" he said softly, "Why'd you have to leave me? I thought I was never going to see you again."

"Aang, I had to leave! If I had stayed here I would have killed you!" As these words left my lips Aang's face turned from concern to shock.

"You- you would have killed me?"

"Yes, just like Haru," I said the tears now pouring down my cheeks. "I need to tell you the whole story of why I left, and it starts with the bloodbending at night. Suki helped fill in the blanks," I said, now wiping away my tears with my thumb.

"I'm listening," he said. I related all of the information that Suki told me to Aang and I ended up in tears "Toph had predicted I would do the same to you as I did to Haru, and so once I realized I had killed Haru I knew I needed to leave to protect you."

"Katara-" and without another word, he kissed me.

He pulled me in tight, closing the gap between our bodies. In that kiss I could feel all of his frustration, all of his fear, all of his passion. That kiss was like looking into Aang's soul. I kissed back, also pouring my emotions out, hoping he would look into my soul. His hands snaked around my waist and mine found their way into his hair, holding him there, even though there was no need to.

When we finally pulled away he said, "Don't ever leave me again Katara."

"I won't," I replied truthfully, "but I don't want to hurt you."

"I'll do whatever it takes to help you figure out how to stop this," Aang said determinedly, "Whatever it takes."


	16. Chapter 16

"So what's the best way to end Hama?" Sokka asked, everyone now caught up on everything.

"Well, I think that Katara needs to find a way to end Hama from here," Suki suggested.

"I could use bloodbending to do it," I said, "That would probably be the only way to kill someone from this far away." I paused, "Did you find out how Hama was controlling me from in the Firenation?"

"No, I didn't find that out, I was lucky I found out what I did," Suki replied.

"I bet there's some way that we can get to Hama through the Spirit World," Sokka said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but how would I bloodbend Hama?" I asked.

"You could teach Aang," Sokka suggested.

"No," I said forcefully, "There is no way I can teach Aang bloodbending. It's awful, and theres no way I could give him another responsibility."

"Katara, if it'll help you, I'll learn bloodbending," Aang said quietly, and I knew he would do it for me.

"No, This is my burden to bear," I insisted.

"Is there some way for you to take Katara into the Spirit World with you, Aang?" Sokka asked, "Because then you can find Hama and Katara can end her. It could be like that one time you told us about at the Winter Solstice, when you were here, but in the Spirit World too."

"That just might work," Aang said, "The only problem is, I've never taken anyone into the Spirit World with me before. I wouldn't know how to do it."

"Well, you normally get into the Spirit World when you're meditating, so if you and Katara can meditate together, maybe that'll do something," Sokka suggested.

"I think they need to be connected in some way though," Suki said.

"Well, I guess you two should go meditate and try a whole bunch of different ways of being 'connected' while doing so," Sokka said.

Aang and I stood up and mentally as though connected, decided that we needed to find a place to meditate. "Woah, woah, woah," Sokka said, causing us to freeze, "Just where do you think you're going?"

"To find a place to meditate," Aang said.

"Not alone you're not," Sokka said angrily, "Suki said you need to be connected, and I'm not leaving you two alone to 'connect' with each other."

"What do you propose on doing? Watching us?" I asked.

"Actually, that is a brilliant idea, I will do just that," Sokka said as he got himself comfortable.

"Fine," I huffed as I sat down and tried to clear my head. Suki and Sokka sat stock still watching us. "How do you propose we 'connect' first?" I asked Suki.

"Maybe you should start by touching palms," She said thoughtfully. Aang and I faced each other, legs crossed, palms touching. I let my mind go free, concentrating on my breathing. We sat for a good five minutes, and since it normally takes Aang a much quicker period of time to get into the Spirit World, I opened my eyes and faced Suki and Sokka, Aang doing the same.

"This isn't exactly working," Aang said, "When I feel like I'm about to go into the Spirit World, I don't feel Katara next to me." Suki thought for a moment.

"Why don't you kiss?" At this comment our heads all turned to Sokka, waiting for approval.

"Oh fine," he grumbled, "If it helps us." Aang and I looked at each other, a little reluctant to be put on the spot. We crossed our legs and grasped hands, leaning in close. Our lips met in a gentle kiss, and I found I was much more aware of it this time with Sokka watching. I closed my eyes, and tried to clear my head. I felt a strange sensation that could only really be described as dissolving, and when I opened my eyes, my body was next to me, still kissing Aang, his tattoos and eyes glowing, and surprisingly, my eyes were glowing too. I looked down at my hands and found that I was opalescent. I glanced to my right and saw Aang grinning at me also looking very opalescent. We had done it. We had gotten into the Spirit World.


	17. Chapter 17

"So what now?" I asked.

"Where do you think Hama is?" he returned with another question.

"I guess with Ozai in the Firenation," I answered, "Why?"

"Take my hand and concentrate as hard as you can on the Firelord's palace." I closed my eyes and pictured the place at which we had just been defeated. I felt a kind of tugging feeling, and when I opened my eyes, we were standing in the Firelord's palace.

"Wow, you know how to get around," I told Aang. He shrugged.

"All we need to do now is to find Hama."

"But Aang, the palace is swarming with guards."

"Nobody can see us," he said grinning, "Come on, lets go." We ran down the main hallway, peeking our heads through doors, (we could do that since we weren't really there) and trying to find Hama. There were so many different doors and hallways that Aang and I were getting discouraged. We had been searching for a good 15 minutes before Aang called out, "Katara I see her!"

I quickly ran (if you could call it that) to where Aang was and we both walked through the door. Hama was slumped in a corner, in what was no better than a jail cell. She was flexing her fingers, the veins in her wrists protruding, and making the rat in the opposite corner pace in a circle. This was the woman who was controlling me every evening? I wondered what Ozai had did to her to make her cooperate, I even almost felt sorry for her.

Those sorry thoughts were pushed our of my head when I thought of what she was doing to me every night. To me and to the rabbits and to Haru, and what she was planning on doing to Aang. She might even be better off once I had done what I had to do. I still can't believe I was going to do it. How could you just force someone's heart to stop like that?

As if reading my thoughts, Aang said, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"She's controlling me every night," I answered, "She's killed Haru, and she was going to make me kill you. Ending her is the only way to make sure that I can be with you and you'll be safe. I need to do this." And with that, I began to summon all the energy I could. I focused on Hama, I focused on her heart, the liquid running through it. I felt the steady pulse and the flow of blood to and from her heart. I closed my hand into a fist, feeling the liquid coming out of her heart stop. I heard her take one last gulp of air, then saw her lie still.

I had done it. I had killed Hama. I had killed someone. Tears started to flow down my cheeks as I realized what I had done. I closed my eyes tightly, fighting dizziness and I felt a hand close around mine. Another dissolving feeling and another small tug, and when I opened my eyes, I was solid. My lips were still touching Aang's, but tears were also still streaming from my eyes. I shut my eyes once more and soon arms closed around me. Aang held me tight against his chest, as I collapsed against him.


	18. Chapter 18

Aang had begun to tell Sokka and Suki what had happened, while still holding tightly to me. I was still horrified at what I had done, and couldn't staunch my tears just yet. "So, it was actually pretty… easy," Aang concluded in an oddly strangled voice.

"Just to be safe though," Sokka said, "I think tonight Katara should sleep guarded, just in case." I looked up at Sokka, noting the true care in his eyes.

"I'll do it," said Aang assuredly.

"I don't think that's the best idea," Sokka countered, "Not only do I not want you in a room together, but Aang, you were the one Katara was after in the first place. I'll watch her."

"Now would be a good time to get some rest," I said finally speaking up.

"Yeah," Suki agreed, "We probably all should." I pulled away from Aang reluctantly, but first giving him a small kiss. Sokka turned his head pointedly away when I did this, and then followed me into my room.

I lay down on my bed, and Sokka stretched out next to me in his sleeping bag. I turned over on my side, so I was facing my brother. There was so much I had to tell him. "Sokka-" I began but was cut off by him, "Katara, listen, whatever happens tonight- if you know- things don't go as planned- I want you to know- what you did wasn't a waste-" he stopped, apparently out of things to say.

"I know," I said, "I've killed two people- I just don't want you or Aang to be next. I'm really scared, Sokka."

"You'll be ok," he said reassuringly, "I know you will be."

"Thanks," I said as I turned over and closed my eyes, hoping deeply that my hands would be clean when I got up in the morning.

Falling asleep wasn't as easy as I had thought though. Sokka quickly nodded off, but I lay awake staring at the ceiling. I knew Hama was gone and that I wouldn't bloodbend at night anymore, I could just feel it, but that still didn't stop me from being scared. From seeing images of my hands covered in blood and of Haru's mangled body. I rolled over and slipped out of my bed. I had something I needed to do.

I crept down the hall, and opened the door slowly as to not wake Sokka. I knelt down beside his bed, and placed a kiss on Aang's forehead. He stirred and turned over, but didn't wake. I climbed into bed next to him, and leaned my head against his chest. He must have noticed at that point because his eyes fluttered open and he looked confused. "Katara?" he asked, "Am I dreaming?"

"No," I said chuckling to myself, "I'm really here." And as if to prove it to him, I kissed him as hard as I could, almost throwing myself at him. Aang looked shocked at first, but slowly leaned into the kiss. His lips were soft but firm against mine, and he clearly didn't want to rush things.

Aang pulled away abrubtly, leaving me craving another kiss, and leaned on his elbow looking me in the eyes. "Before we go any farther," he said seriously, "I have to know something. Are you going to leave after this? Because this is exactly how it happened last time, but when I woke up you were gone." I stared up at his face, thinking of the fact that only Aang would think to ask this question, and started to giggle. It slowly turned into me gagging on air from the absurdity of the question and trying to keep myself quiet so Sokka wouldn't come in and find us doing what we were doing.

"Of course not!" I said after a few minutes, my laughter finally beginning to subside.

Aang grinned at me, "Hey, it was a valid question! I just didn't want to wake up from the best night of my life with you gone again." I laughed, and he began to kiss me again. I graciously accepted the invitation his lips offered to me, and he began to wind his hands through my hair. Our bodies seemed to meld together, we were holding each other so closely.

The kisses slowly began to subside as we grew more weary, each of us aware of the fact that the events of the night were still heavy upon us. I ended up resting my head upon his chest, and his arms closed around me, keeping me safe. Aang's breathing slowed and I could tell that he was asleep. I allowed my eyes to close, and my mind to wander, knowing that tomorrow when I woke up, there would be no blood on my hands. Never again would I have to get up early and go to the stream to wash off the crimson liquid. Now I was safe in Aang's arms, not bothered by blood.

A/N: Well, I'm finally done. It's kinda hard to say goodbye to a story that you worked so hard on, but you have to let it go sometime right? Sigh. Well, now I have to think of another idea! 


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